And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
“Although twelve-year-old Vasiko came to be highly respected by his neighbors for deep devotion and spiritual gifts, his mother attempted to discourage his religiosity. Knowing what kinds of persecution he would likely face and also being “disturbed” by his strange behavior as a child, she insistently pleaded with him to abandon his faith and be like the other boys his age. At one point she became so distraught that she threw his Gospel book into the toilet.
But Vasiko hastily retrieved it and pressed it close to his breast, weeping sorrowfully. The episode forced the young saint to make a life-changing decision. Late that same night, he crept out of his house and began walking. After several days he arrived at Samtavro Convent in Mtskheta. Over the next few weeks, he took refuge in various monasteries, eventually settling for a time in Bethany Monastery where two monks, George and John, became his favorite confessors…
When Vasiko turned 20 in 1949, he was called for mandatory military service, to which he dutifully submitted. But even while in service surrounded by atheists and anti-religion zealots he maintained his faith, often sneaking away whenever possible to visit holy sites near where he was deployed. Eventually the military discovered his faith, and after they dismissed him from service he was declared mentally ill (because communists thought only a mentally ill person would believe in God). He returned home and built a small chapel in his backyard.
He wished to enter a monastery – of which there were but few remaining open – but the communist government made entry into monastic life an exceedingly difficult proposition. Finally, in 1954 he entered the Kutaisi Motsameta Monastery and was tonsured a monk with the name Gabriel… The incident in Gabriel’s life that is perhaps best known throughout the world, both secularly and within the Church, occurred in 1965 during the May Day celebration of the Soviet might. May 1 happened to fall on Holy Saturday that year, and a great parade preceded through the streets immediately after Gabriel had just served the divine liturgy.
As he walked along the street, he saw a giant, 26-foot picture of Vladimir Lenin adorning the building with the caption “Glory to Great Lenin.” Gabriel walked up the giant picture and set it on fire. He then turned to the astonished crowd and began preaching to them, warning them that they were bowing down before idols and that glory belongs not to the corpse of Lenin but to the conqueror of death, Jesus Christ…
Gabriel was greatly troubled when people elevated him. Perhaps because of that, he resolved around this time, to adapt wholeheartedly to the podvig of a fool for Christ… In the last years of his life, Gabriel spoke principally of the necessity of loving God and one’s neighbor, for “God is love. Do as much good as you can… Be humble, for God sheds His grace on the humble. Love one another, for without love no person will enter the doors of Paradise.”
Gabriel of Mtskheta (1929-1995) in Holy Fools: The Lives of Twenty Fools for Christ by Oswin Craton (Chesterton: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2024) 41-48.
I love it when I can say I am a contemporary of a saint like Gabriel. That means our lives overlapped. We walked the earth at the same time in different places.
Gabriel lived in a hard, Lenin-loving situation. He did not allow that to intimidate him or keep him from pointing those around him to faith in Jesus.
In his case, generous service came into view as doing as much good as he could in the place where God put him, despite the risk of persecution.
And what seemed to protect him on the way was his commitment to doing good with humility. When we maintain a posture of humility, God gives grace and protect us.
What about you? Are you choosing the path of the podvig and doing what you can? How can you cloth yourself with humility in a greater way to experience the grace and protection of God?
Part of what I love about today’s post is that all of us, regardless of our age or station, can grow in humility. May God help us do this to strengthen our generous impact.
Today marks the last all day event in Colombia, Stations of Generosity, in Bogotá. Pray for the transformation of participants and for many to replicate it in Colombia and Venezuela for God’s glory.